Due to concerns regarding contamination and injury, it is desirable to have a safe and simple method of disposing used medical needles (e.g. syringes, sharps). Emphasis has been placed on designing containers (e.g. phlebotomy disposal containers) that isolate the previously disposed needles from the medical professional that uses the container. Further, efforts have been made to provide a disposal container which a medical professional can operate easily and conveniently.
A typical needle disposal system is illustrated in FIG. 1 and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,164 issued to Richardson et al., which is incorporated herein by reference for its teachings related to needle disposal systems. The disposal container 2 shown in FIG. 1 includes a container body 4 and a lid 6. The lid 6 includes a skirt 8 which may be used to engage a top flange of container body 4 (not shown).
It is desirable to insert a used needle through an opening in the lid so that the used needle may be dropped into the container body 4 through the opening. Accordingly, lid 6 includes a first aperture 10 and a second aperture 12. Aperture 10 may be covered by a pivotal closure 14, and aperture 12 may be covered by a pivotal closure 16. Pivotal closures 14 and 16 may be joined by a bridge 18 so that they may be operated in tandem. Aperture 10 is sized larger than aperture 12. With pivotal closure 14 open, medical waste that fits through aperture 10 is simply deposited through aperture 10 and drops into container body 4.
Aperture 12 is specifically sized to receive a needle system 19, which is also illustrated in FIG. 1 and described by Richardson et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,164. Needle system 19 includes a needle holder 22 and a needle 26. Needle holder 22 includes a lower opening (not shown) that receives and retains needle 26. In order to retain the needle 26 using the lower opening, needle holder 22 includes two spring loaded side locks 24. When side locks 24 are depressed inwardly, the lower opening expands. When side locks 24 are not depressed inwardly, as shown in FIG. 1, the lower opening is in a retracted position. When the lower opening (not shown) is in the expanded position, needle 26 separates from needle holder 22. When the lower opening is in the retracted position, needle 26 is retained by needle holder 22. Aperture 12 includes tapered sides (not shown) which receive a lower portion of the outer wall 23 of needle holder 22. As needle 26 is guided into aperture 12, the tapered sides (not shown) contact and depress side locks 24, so that the lower opening expands and needle 26 is separated from needle holder 22. Needle 26 drops into container body 4, and needle holder 22 is retained or discarded in an appropriate manner.
Lid 6 also defines needle detaching device 20 adjacent to aperture 12. Needle detaching device 20 may be used to unscrew needles which are threaded to a needle holder.
While the disposal system illustrated in FIG. 1 provides an effective disposal system for certain medical waste, it does not efficiently accommodate every type of needle system in use. Particularly, many unwinding type needle systems can not be unwound and discarded by using the system illustrated in FIG. 1. An unwinding type needle system typically includes a needle and a needle holder, often threaded together. In order to dispose of a needle of an unwinding type needle system, the needle is preferably unwound from the needle holder so that the needle may drop into an accompanying disposal container.
Aperture 12 is not configured to unwind a needle from every configuration of needle holder. For example, while needle detaching device 20 may be used to unwind some types of needles from some types of needle holders, it can not accommodate every type of needle system which requires unwinding for disposal.
As such, medical professionals are often forced to choose one needle system and a corresponding disposal system over another type of system, or alternatively medical professionals stock numerous types of needle systems and disposal systems (resulting in higher costs). Accordingly, there remains a need for a disposal system that can accommodate more than one type of needle holder system.